Pakistan national team’s batting coach Adam Hollioake feels that 22-year-old left-hand batter Saim Ayub is perhaps the most talented batsman he has ever come across in his coaching career. The former English batter made this claim while speaking to a Pakistan-based media outlet a couple of days ago.
Saim Ayub is regarded as the future of the country’s national team having made his national debut in a T20I series against arch-rivals Afghanistan last year in March at the Sharjah stadium. He rose to major prominence through his exceptional performances in the Pakistan Super League and is often regarded as the next big thing by his teammates.
Although he still hasn’t been able to replicate his PSL performances in the international circuit those closer to him, know what type of a player he is and what he is capable of. He has carved out a niche for himself by gaining quality experience while representing various franchises around the world.
The humble left-hand aggressive batter has played for franchises like Durdanto Dhaka and Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League, Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League, Toronto Nationals in the Global T20 Canada, Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL.
Saim Ayub was in action for the national side during their tours of Australia and New Zealand as recently as last month. He made his debut for the Test side last month in the series concluding Test match of a 3-match series at Down Under where the Pakistanis were whitewashed by 3-0.
The youngster had scores of 0 and 3 across innings in David Warner’s farewell Test match at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground. Then later on in January, Ayub took part in the 5-match T20I series in New Zealand where after missing the 1st match, the 22-year-old played the remaining 4 matches in Auckland, Hamilton, Dunedin, and Christchurch.
Saim Ayub could not perform that well as he had scores of 27, 1, 10, and 1. Despite his underwhelming outings in the series which Pakistan lost by 4-1, batting coach Adam Hollioake has backed him to have a great international career going forward.
“I haven’t seen a more talented player than Saim Ayub. He didn’t play the first 2 Tests against Australia so I spent a lot of time with him. After a couple of Tests, you’ve hardly beaten his edge, haven’t gotten him out, and you realize you’re dealing with a player with a lot of talent. I think he’s a potential great of the game.” – Hollioake said to Cricket Pakistan.
“Saim Ayub Has The Ability To Be One Of The Great Players”, Adam Hollioake Backs Pakistan Batter
Adam Hollioake recognized the fact that Saim Ayub is still in his early days of international cricket and claimed that the longest format of cricket is a hard one to crack.
“It’s early days and Test cricket is hard, but he has the ability to be one of the great players. Mentally, how he stands up to the grinds of international cricket and bounces back from failure. Everything else, he ticks all the boxes.” – Hollioake concluded.